“You’re sure you’re okay with Emma?”

I pull my eyes away from my niece’s sleeping face up to Elodie. “I’m fine. I have everything I need. You need to go meet Chris and the realtor or you’ll be late.”

Elodie gives a distracted nod and glances around the room. “I put bottles in the fridge.”

A laugh escapes me at my younger sister. “Yes you did. Go. I’ll see you in a few hours.”

A smile breaks across her lips and she finally grabs her jacket. “Okay. Call me if you need anything.”

“I will,” I promise. “Good luck with the house hunting.”

“We better find one this time,” she says. “I cannot take one more day of looking through other people’s houses.” She begins to walk to the front door, still talking. “If Chris wasn’t so damn indecisive…”

I smile and resume looking at Emma as Elodie’s words fade and are followed by the sound of the front door closing.

I can’t even describe how happy I am to have my sister, brother in law, and niece here for a few days. Elodie is the sane one in my family and seeing her is so refreshing. And although I’ve adjusted to life in LA pretty good, it’s been so long since I’ve seen people that I haven’t just met the past few months. It had been almost four months since I had seen them last and I don’t know how I went that long.

Emma is so much bigger than the last time I saw her and I can’t believe how much she’s changed. Becoming an aunt was one of the highlights of my life and it was killing me knowing that I was missing out on so much of her life. Now that they’re moving to LA, I can see Emma all the time.

I was more than happy to opt out of going to the store and watch Emma instead while Elodie and Chris go look for a house. I swear I’ve been at the store every day for the past week and I need a break before I go crazy. And spending an afternoon with my niece is the perfect way to de-stress.

Emma tenses in my arms, bringing my attention back to her. Her face scrunches up like she’s going to cry but instead a small sigh escapes her tiny rosebud lips and she relaxes. Her playpen is sitting in the middle of the room and I could just put her in there since she’ll probably be sleeping for the next hour or so, but it’s like ever since they got here yesterday, I can’t get enough of holding her.

I’ve always been a little jealous of Elodie’s life. She’s twenty two, three years younger than me, and is already married and has a baby. Everyone in my family was a little worried about her when she got married to Chris when she was only nineteen and he was twenty but their marriage seems to be golden. It’s strange to me that my younger sister is so much more settled than I am. When we were growing up I always thought it would be the other way around. Going to your younger sister when you need relationship advice is weird no matter how you look at it.

Emma sleeps soundly for over an hour before waking up and needing her diaper changed and needing to be fed. I love just holding her and watching her sleep but having her awake and playing with her is even better. She’s so much more interactive now that she’s older and time slips away as we play peek-a-boo and pat-a-cake. I don’t even notice how late it’s getting until I hear a car drive up the driveway. I look away from Emma and to the clock on the wall.

“I wonder if that’s Mommy and Daddy,” I say, pulling myself up off the ground. I reach down and pick her up, resting her weight on my hip. “Do you think they found a house for you to live in?”

Emma’s content with babbling in response to my question and I smile, reaching my hand up to brush her dark hair away from her face. It’s easy to get lost in a child’s simplistic world. If only life could always stay that way.

I’m still in the living room when I hear the front door open. I’m surprised when instead of Elodie or Chris, I hear Justin’s voice call my name. He hadn’t mentioned he was coming over.

“In here,” I call, gently pulling Emma’s hand away from my hair when she gives it a tug. It’s not the first time she’s done it and I’m beginning to realize that I should maybe wear my hair up while I’m around her.

Justin appears in the doorway “Why’s your door unlocked?” The words leave his mouth and then he sees the baby in my arms. “Emma?”

I smile and nod. “This is her. Isn’t she cute?”

His lips turn up and he steps over the toys on the floor to come over to us. “Yeah. Looks a bit like you too.”

“She looks more like my sister than anyone.” I look away from Emma and up to him. “You didn’t say you were coming over.”

He doesn’t reply right away and leans down, kissing me for a minute before pulling back. “I know. I finished early with my manager and thought I’d come see if you were home. Are you babysitting?”

I sit down on the couch. “Yeah. Elodie and Chris are out looking at houses.” I wince a bit when Emma yanks on my hair again. “Can you hold her for a second?”

He sits down next to me and I put Emma in his lap and then pull my hair into a ponytail. When I finish, I pull my legs onto the couch, bringing them to my chest and shift closer to Justin, watching him interact with Emma.

Justin has this way with people of all ages. He can easily talk to people of any age and immediately put them at ease. I shouldn’t be surprised that the same is the case with babies. Emma is showing no stranger anxiety and giggling as he plays with her toes.

“So can I stay and meet your sister and brother in law?”

I settle myself more closely to Justin, resting my head on his shoulder. “Sure.”

“Just like that?”

I smile. “I’m not against you meeting Elodie or Chris. They’re completely normal.” Reaching my hand out, I straighten the front of Emma’s shirt. “What was your meeting about?”

“I got a script to look over.”

I lift my head from his shoulder so I can look at him. “You’re going to do another movie?”

He shrugs. “If I like the script. Once I’m done with Bridget’s album I don’t have much on my plate. I’m not really ready to record another album and get back into all that.”

I nod and lean my head back on his shoulder. The great thing about Justin is he’s so much like me with his work. He always likes to be doing something. He understands when I’m at work all the time and doesn’t complain about it. It’s hard for me, just like it is for him, to take a break.

“How long are Elodie and Chris staying out here?”

“They leave tomorrow night.” Emma starts to fuss so I take her from Justin’s lap and pull her against my chest. “What’s wrong, Em?” She calms down a bit as I bounce her a few times and I pull myself up and put her in her swing so she can occupy herself, stepping over everything scattered on the floor to get back to the couch. I never realized just how much stuff Emma has. Elodie and Chris are staying with me while they’re in LA and within a few hours of them being here the house was littered with various baby products. I’m a bit of a neat freak with my house but I’ve realized I better get used to it if they’re going to be living out here and I’ll be babysitting for them.

A hand encircles mine and I’m pulled back to the couch. Justin brings me down to sit beside him, practically on top of him and I smile when his arms go around me.

“Do you realize it’s been almost a week since we’ve had any time alone?” he asks, his face nuzzling in my neck.

I squirm a bit when his stubble tickles my skin. “I know,” I sigh. Believe me, I know. A week ago we had dinner together at my house but since then I’ve seen him once when he stopped by the store for a few hours and other than that, we’ve talked on the phone and that’s about it.

“I’m still waiting for that day you promised me where we’re going to spend all day in bed.”

I giggle at his words. I had promised him that last week while we were talking on the phone and he was bellyaching about never seeing me. It definitely wasn’t an empty promise because there is nothing I’d rather do than spend a day in bed with him. But it’s going to have to wait until at least next week after the grand opening.

“As soon as I can take a day off we can do that,” I say, snuggling into his side a bit more. Sitting here with him it’s hard to even think about working and being away from him. I love this point in relationships where you can be around the person hours on end and never grow tired of them.

“I’m going to hold you to that.”

I smile and kiss the side of his head. “I thought you might.”

His hands run up and down my sides, leaving shivers going through me. It’s been a while since a simple touch like that can get to me this much. And it’s not always a good thing either. When we’re in public and he does something a simple thing like run his fingers over my palm or slide his hand around my hip, getting all hot and bothered isn’t the best thing.

I’m close to dozing off in his arms when I hear the front door opening and the sounds of Elodie and Chris talking. Before I can pull back, Justin’s already on his feet. Damn. He is REALLY eager to meet them. He waits for me to go out the doorway before following close behind.

Elodie stops talking and her eyes light up when they land on Justin. She’s been almost as bad as Justin with bugging me to let her meet him. Ever since she started dating Chris it’s been her life goal to find me a boyfriend.

She doesn’t even let me do formal introductions before she steps forward. “Well finally. I thought Cassandra was going to keep you all to herself and never introduce you to us.”

Justin smiles. “Well she said you were completely normal so we could meet.”

Elodie’s never been one to be shy and I’m not surprised when she gives Justin a hug. I’m hardly even needed here because as soon as Elodie pulls away from Justin, she’s introducing him to Chris and they’re sharing a handshake. I’m entirely jealous of how easily he falls into conversation with my sister and brother in law and once again wish I had the ability to do that. My conversations with Lynn could only be described as awkward and uncomfortable.

Elodie moves everyone to the living room and it becomes clear to me that I’m not even needed to be the buffer for Justin. The ease at which he’s getting along with Elodie and Chris is almost giving me a new sense of hope for him meeting the rest of my family one day. Maybe he really can pull this off.

When I enter the living room, Justin is already engaged in conversation with Chris about real estate in LA and is continuing winning Elodie over by playing with Emma while he talks. I don’t even feel the need to have to direct conversation and instead just sit on the couch and listen silently, adding in a few comments here and there. Within twenty minutes everyone seems completely comfortable with each other and I excuse myself and go to the kitchen. I don’t know about everyone else but I’m so hungry my stomach feels like it’s going to eat itself. I’m taking it that Justin’s staying for dinner so I should find something to make for all of us.

“What a catch.”

Elodie’s voice startles me and I jump and pull my head out of the fridge. “Who?”

My sister rolls her eyes and sits down at the table, putting Emma on her lap. “Justin, you moron. Can you grab a bottle?”

I grab one of the baby bottles out of the fridge and stick it in the microwave to warm it up a bit. “I don’t think I’ve ever met someone who makes better first impressions than Justin.”

“He’s great, C. He seems like a genuinely nice person and perfect for you. How long have you guys been dating now?”

“Officially? For just over a month.”

Elodie gives me a weird look. “And unofficially?”

“Like…maybe two months? I don’t know. We were hanging out a lot before he actually came out and asked me to date him.”

“Bet you didn’t hold up your three week rule with him.”

I gave her a triumphant look. “Actually I did.”

“Fool. You can hold off kissing for three weeks for some normal guy. You don’t do that with Justin Timberlake. You take any opportunity you can get.”

I laugh. “He happened to respect my three week rule and if I had tried to break it he probably wouldn’t have even let me.” I grab the heated milk from the microwave and pass it to Elodie. I lean forward, resting my elbows on the counter and watch as she gets settled with Emma. “How long were you dating Chris before you met his parents?”

“Um…maybe a week? But he was still living at home so it was kind of hard not to meet them early on. Why?”

“Justin had me meeting his mom three weeks after we started dating and I just thought it was kind of soon.”

“Are he and his mom close?”

“Extremely.”

“Then it’s not that soon.”

“That’s what Hannah said too.”

“You’re just used to keeping boyfriends away from Mom and Grant that you don’t realize that everyone else’s family aren’t as dysfunctional as ours.”

My nose wrinkles a bit. “Justin keeps saying he wants to meet Mom and Grant.”

Elodie smirks a bit. “Good luck with that. I still remember the first time I introduced Chris to them and I only let him in the house for a grand total of two minutes before dragging him out and saving him.”

“They’ve warmed up to him now though.”

Elodie laughs. “Only reason Mom has is because Chris helped give her a grandchild. And once Grant realized that Chris is a technology wiz and could help fix everything in the house, he became like his second son.”

I ponder that as I grab the steaks I had marinating in the fridge. “I don’t think either of those things will work with Justin.”

“Whatever. Just get the introduction over with and then you can avoid them for a while. Are they coming out for the opening on Saturday?”

“No. Mom has some business conference or something all weekend.”

“Figures. So is everything ready for the opening?”

“Pretty much. Kyle’s been amazing with pulling all the loose ends together. He’s seriously the best person I could have hired for store manager.”

“I want to meet this guy. You keep raving about him.”

“You’ll understand when you meet him tomorrow. You still want to come see the store tomorrow morning, right?”

“Yeah. I wish we could all stay for the opening.”

I wave her guilt off. “Chris has to get back to work and you have to get back to the daycare. I’ll have all the pictures sent to you and it’ll be like you were there.”

Elodie laughs. “With the amount of pictures you take, I can probably make a flip book with them and it actually will be like I’m there.”

I roll my eyes. I can get a little camera happy and take a ton of pictures and Elodie is constantly making fun of me for it. I’ve always figured it’s better to have too many pictures than not enough. And maybe that’s resulted in hundreds of photo albums but you just get another bookshelf and problem solved. “Bitch.”

She gives me a mock chastising face. “Young impressionable ears, Cassandra!” she scolds, making me laugh.

“I’m pretty sure she’s so focused on eating that she’s not hearing a word we’re saying.”

Elodie points her finger at me but smiles as well. “Watch your language around my baby.”

I salute her. “Yes ma’am.”

Elodie’s eyes move away from me and towards the doorway. “You better keep a muzzle on Cassandra when you guys have some babies cause she’s polluting my poor baby’s ears with filthy words.”

Only my dear sister would talk about me having babies with a guy I’ve been seeing for a month. I shoot her a murderous glare as I feel my cheeks go red. The second of silence seems to last hours as I wait to how Justin’s going to respond to her comment. When his laugh fills the room, I feel my shoulders relax.

“I’ll have to keep that in mind.” His hand brushes back some hair that had been hanging in front of my face as I washed the potatoes and I glance up at him, giving what I hope is an apologetic look for Elodie. He simply smiles and winks at me. “Is there enough food for me?”

“I don’t think there’s enough food in the world for you,” I say. I’ve never met a guy who can eat as much as Justin. It’s basically become tradition that when we go out and eat, he finishes his plate and half of mine.

“Smart ass,” he replies.

“You know, I thought this would be a wholesome place for me to feed my daughter but it’s turned into some vulgar poolhouse with all this language and…”

“She gets dramatic,” I say to Justin over Elodie’s continued speech.

“I can see that. I’ll have to watch what I say around her. She looks like she’s gonna wash my mouth out with soap.”

I laugh. “She probably would if she could.” I shut my mouth quickly when I glance at Elodie and see her staring at us silently. “Sorry, what were you saying?”

She ignores me and turns to Justin. “You’ll soon come to find that Cassandra is particularly rude to me because I’m her younger sibling. I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s because she’s bitter about how wise beyond my years I am.”

Justin chuckles at her words and I scoff and grab the plate of steaks. “You keep telling yourself that,” I say to Elodie on my way past her to the patio door. I’m a little worried about leaving her alone with Justin because she has the tendency to say some pretty outrageous stuff. Here’s hoping that she can censor herself.

I’ve only just started the barbeque when the patio door opens and I turn to see Justin stepping outside. He closes the door behind him and walks over to me. I smile when he slides his arm around me and pulls me close to his side.

“I really like them,” he says. His fingers pick up some beat in his head and tap against my hip. “They’re really nice.”

“Yeah they are. And you made another great first impression cause Elodie loves you.”

“See? Me meeting your family isn’t so bad. Now you just have to let me tackle the rest of them.”

Outright refusing that I’ll ever introduce him to the rest of my family is the automatic thing to do but I try and keep Elodie’s words in mind. I do just need to get it over with. “My mom and step dad are coming out in the beginning of May so you can meet them then.”

His eyebrows raise before he can catch it. “Really?”

I force a smile onto my face. “Yep.”

He smiles and leans down to lightly kiss me. “Great.”

I should be happy that he’s so interested in meeting my family. I really should be. But until the meeting is over, I don’t think this feeling of dread is going to leave me.